Finding Solace
by LunaTheRebelMockingjay
Summary: A short series of Nico/Will (Solangelo) fics. Hope you enjoy!
1. Redecorating

**Nico wished he'd never hung the green curtains.**

As he paced back and forth in front of the windows trying to decide if he should quickly rip down the dark drapes and throw them in a crumpled pile in the corner, his mind wandered to the other side of camp where the Apollo cabin was practicing archery. His friend Will Solace was among them, probably shooting his own foot.

For a child of Apollo, Will truly had no grace with a bow. His musical talents weren't quite up to scratch either – the best he could do was a shrill whistle that Nico was sure even the Hellhounds in the Underworld could hear. He mainly tended to the healing side of things.

He did, however, inherit his father's looks. Blonde hair, tall, athletic figure, and sky-blue eyes – the boy could be a replica of the god Apollo.

Nico shook his head in shock and resolved his face into a frown. It wasn't the first time that day he'd caught himself thinking about Will.

_This time you have a reason to think about him though_, Nico tried to reason with himself. _He should be here any minute._

Will had agreed to help Nico redecorate Cabin Thirteen in his own vision. Nico had not taken to the Nosferatu look the other campers seemed to have gone for and decided that, since his stay at Camp Half-Blood would be more or less permanent, he should live somewhere with a tasteful design.

The outside of the cabin looked great. Obsidian walls and torches that burned green all night long that got stronger whenever Nico was around. Nico was starting to hate this feature. It meant that when whenever Will came looking for him there was no hiding in his cabin to pretend he wasn't there. It really irritated him when he heard, "Better come out Dead Boy, or I'm coming in."

"Hey Dead Boy," a voice behind him chimed.

Nico whirled around and faced Will Solace. He had to stop himself from blushing with embarrassment, knowing he had been thinking of the boy only moments ago.

"Don't call me Dead Boy, Solace," he said. "Or I'll have to start calling you Solar Boy."

"Easy there," Will said, holding his palms up in a gesture of surrender. "No need to resort to name-calling, di Angelo."

Nico nodded stiffly. "You're early."

"I got sent off the field." He pointed to his foot, which was bandaged and swollen. Apparently Nico's prediction had been true. "I'm not only a hazard to others, now I'm a hazard even to myself. I didn't think this level of sucking at archery could be achieved by a son of Apollo but there you go. I think Chiron has given up trying with me, now he just kind of stares at me in disappointment."

Will looked to the floor while Nico stifled giggles.

_Giggles._

He immediately pulled himself together and began glaring again. A plant on a nearby shelf withered and drooped and the wood below him that made up the floor seemed to lose its lustre.

"So, let's see what you've done to the place," Will said, cheering up quickly. He stepped around Nico, much to his annoyance (go ahead, make yourself at home Solar Boy), and inspected the interior of the cabin.

He walked past the bunks, newly redecorated in black rails and green Mythomagic sheets. Will looked across at Nico, his eyebrow raised questioningly. "What's with the kid's spread?"

Nico tried not to look offended. "It's not a kid's spread," he muttered. "I used to really like that game…"

"When you were a kid?" Will looked smug.

"Shut up."

Truthfully, Nico was hoping to get back into the game now that he didn't have to worry about Gaia destroying the earth and prophecies that predicted death. He'd missed a lot of his childhood because of his godly heritage, and he didn't intend on letting it keep him from having a normal teenage hobby.

His eyes flicked to the shelf by his bunk, where the Mythomagic figure of his father Hades stood, looming over his other small belongings as if to say, "I am the Lord Hades! You will bow to me, small objects, or you will face the Fields of Punishment!" The toy had been a gift from Percy Jackson, Nico's first real crush. Though he had moved on from Percy, he still felt that the gift was too personal to give up. At least for now.

Will moved on. He nodded appraisingly at the wall colour and the minimally decorated space it left. He strode past the bathroom and acknowledged the throne of darkness within. He stopped at the curtains, did a full circle, as if to take in his surroundings one final time, and looked at Nico. Taking a deep breath, he said, "It's horrible."

Nico nearly pulled his Stygian Iron sword and told him to say it again.

"What?" he said through his teeth instead.

"Way too sparse," Will commented, gesturing at the walls. "To drab, too dull, too dark." He pointed at the curtains. "Just plain horrendous."

Nico blushed furiously and strode over to rip the curtains down, embarrassed. He knew they'd been too much. "Well, what would you suggest? Daisy chains and an inspiring message?"

Will looked at him like _don't tempt me_, and then looked once around the room again. "I think you need a lighter wall colour for starters. Black is cool, but I think that green would make it work better, especially with the torches outside."

Nico stood silent for a moment. "Since when have you been an interior designer?"

Will shrugged. "Gotta be good at something to make up for my lack of archery and musical skill." He looked back to Nico and smiled. "So, I'll see you tomorrow morning at seven."

He turned to leave. Nico whirled around. "What? Why?"

"Well, we have to start saving this place sometime and I figure sooner is better than later," Will reasoned. He started walking across the green towards Cabin Seven. Without turning, he raised his hand in a wave and said over his shoulder, "See you then, Dead Boy."

Nico grumbled, "Don't call me Dead Boy," and then slammed the door behind Will Solace.


	2. Happy Birthday

**Nico hated birthdays.** Especially his own.

Birthdays used to be fun for him before the he learned about the whole demigod thing. He remembered vaguely running around a sparse house with dark panelling, chasing his sister Bianca while he was blindfolded in a really unfair game of tag. Then, when Nico had eventually pounced on his sister, his mother came out, smiling. The memories of his mother were faint and dull, but he remembered wispy strands of dark hair and a single crease in her cheeks when she smiled tiredly. Their mother called them into another room for a few presents and a stale cake that Nico was sure now had cost her everything she had. And when presents were done, their mother would hug them and tell them that she wished their father could see how happy they were.

Nico scoffed. How ironic that statement seemed now. All his father saw now was a disappointment of a son who could never truly be happy. Being alone seemed to be Nico's birth right. And he was surprisingly okay with that recently.

Spending more time at Camp Half-Blood made him realise just how much he wanted to shadow travel away and retreat to Hades' realm of darkness. If he had to endure one more, "Hey, Nico! What's up?" he was going to have a fit.

His most recent birthdays mainly consisted of a dismal excuse for a celebration in his father's palace in the Underworld with his spiteful step-mother and uninterested father. He usually skulked back to his room and raised some skeletons to talk to and keep him company.

There was the one birthday, his thirteenth, that his father Hades gave him a present that could kind of be considered cool. He summoned a zombie from the ground, a French failure of a race car driver, and told Nico that Jules-Albert was to be his chauffer. He wanted Nico to be able to do things like a normal teenager and he supposed the best way to do that was to have someone to drive him to events or places. Not that Nico had anywhere to go.

In any case, Nico had started to resent his birthday. And today, his fifteenth, was no exception.

Nico wandered around the camp, through the woods and by the lake, trying like crazy to avoid Will Solace. He hadn't told Will about his birthday; he hadn't told anyone. But Nico had a feeling that wouldn't matter. Will would probably find out through some weird Apollo-child prophecy thing or something and then Nico would have no choice but to accept it was his birthday.

Nico vaguely wondered how old Will himself was. He'd never thought to ask. He looked about seventeen, but it was hard to tell with demigods. Percy certainly didn't look seventeen. He still looked like a twelve-year-old boy, but with a thinner face and a better body. So physical appearance really was nothing to go on.

Nico sat down on the beach and hugged his legs close to his body. He stared out at the lake and the sun high above it.

One of the many reasons he had grown to resent his birthday was that every day that passed took him one step further away from Bianca. Every passing day hurt him, knowing that he'd already outlived his older sister and yet he had still more days, seemingly endless days.

He heard footsteps fall lightly on the sand behind him. A demigod with lesser attuned senses wouldn't have heard. The person was obviously trying for stealth. The footsteps stopped, as though they'd realised that Nico was aware of their presence.

"You heard me, didn't you?"

Nico didn't turn around to look, but the corner of his mouth twitched; first into a smile then into a frown. "Yeah."

Will Solace moved to sit next to him on the sand and rested his elbows around his knees. He turned to look at Nico.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing," Nico replied. He shrugged it off and turned his face to the other side. "I'm fine."

"Then why are you sitting alone on the beach?" Will asked.

"Well, I'm not alone anymore, am I?" Nico retorted. A short silence passed. Nico sighed. "What do you want, Solace?"

"I just came to give you this."

Nico turned around and looked at the box in Will's hand. It was wrapped in black paper that was almost holographic green in the light. It had a small bow made from dark green ribbon in the corner and a card was attached to the front.

Nico stared at it. "What's this?"

"Uh, a present," Will said, his face making the _duh_ expression.

Nico's stomach dropped. "Why?"

"Does a friend have to have a reason to get his friend a gift?" Will's expression was innocent but Nico was not about to trust the word of Will Solace. Will shook his head. "What are you complaining about, di Angelo? Just open the damn present."

Nico gingerly took the box and began pulling at the edges, but after a moment a child-like excitement took over and suddenly he was five years old again, ripping open his Christmas present like an over-eager puppy.

When the wrappings were sufficiently destroyed, Nico stared down at the box. It was some sort of electronic device but Nico had difficulty reading the words printed there. Dyslexia sucked.

Will seemed to understand. "It's an iPod." At Nico's blank return stare, Will's face became puzzled. "Are you seriously trying to tell me you don't know what an iPod is? Where are you from? The 1920s?"

"Close," Nico said. "The 1930s."

Will stared. And stared. Eventually he managed a few words. "What… What do you mean?"

Nico collapsed backwards into the sand, sighed deeply, said, "Prepare yourself, Solace," and began to tell his story of the Lotus Hotel and Casino experience. It was not a story Nico liked repeating. Since he discovered what had happened, he'd been upset that he missed so much of what should have been his life. He should know what an iPod was. He should know how to use a computer. He should know all the bands that the other campers talked about.

But on the other hand, he shouldn't know any of that. He should have seen the end of the Second World War. He should have finished school in a time where everything was familiar. He should probably be dead.

After Nico finished telling the story of his childhood, or lack thereof, Will sat silent, jaw locked and mind reeling.

There was a long silence. The air was palpable with the anxiety of one Nico di Angelo as he waited for a response. Will Solace, while annoyingly perky and arrogant, was as close as Nico had to a best friend these days, without Reyna around. If Nico had just scared him off with his life story, he wasn't sure what he would do with that.

After a lifetime and a half, Will finally breathed. He took a breath in and met Nico's gaze. He had an unreadable expression that left Nico even more anxious than before. His palms started to sweat and his heart beat a million times a minute.

"Well," Will said quietly. "I'd better teach you how to use that iPod then."

As he stood up, he extended a hand to Nico to help lift him up too. Nico took it, grateful that he still had a friend in Will Solace, and began to walk towards the cabins.

Will stopped and turned around to face Nico. His unreadable expression melted into a warm smile. "By the way," he said, "Happy Birthday."


	3. Learning the Ropes

**Hip hop, Nico decided**, was not his genre of music.

Since his birthday a few weeks ago, Will Solace had been exposing him to all the wondrous technology the twenty-first century had to offer. This included laptop computers, the miracle shuffle button on his new iPod, some form of noise that Will called "metal", a program on the internet called "YouTube", and the music stylings of the hip hop genre.

Will personally had no interest in such things as heavy metal music and hardcore screaming; as a son of Apollo, his musical tastes were slightly more delicate and refined. However, the hip hop had been his idea. It was like he'd hoped to find something musically in common with the son of Hades.

What was, however, was not exactly as Nico imagined Will had pictured.

"Jazz." Will repeated, slowly. "The Ghost King, the Son of the Shadows, Lord of the Night, has a preference for light jazz music?"

Not even a second passed before Will had begun guffawing and holding his ribcage as though it may burst open from laughter. Nico resolved to glare at him until he finished. It took a few minutes, but eventually the tears in Will's eyes subsided and his breathing became les erratic.

"So what?" Nico said. "You're a son of Apollo and you like this… stuff." He gestured to the playlist of mixed hip hop songs Will had made for him on his new iPod. "It's not that hard to believe."

Truthfully, the jazz music reminded him of his past, back in the 1940s when his family was still whole and happy. Every smooth saxophone solo took his mind drifting back to pleasant memories of dancing around the living room on his mother's toes, with Bianca doing her own little waltz beside them. Every trombone slide made him feel like a little kid again. Of all the things he missed about his old life, his music was one of the greatest.

"You're right," Will lifted his hands in a peace gesture. "You're right, it's not that funny."

Even as he said it, another laugh escaped his lips. Nico rolled his eyes.

"Move on, Solace," he grumbled.

Will took a steadying breath and composed himself. "Okay. I'm good." He looked over and met Nico's eyes. "So, what shall we introduce you to next? Perhaps 3D movies? Or maybe e-readers?"

Nico sighed. His introduction to the twenty-first century was going to take a long time.


	4. Halloween - Part One

**Despite his dark reputation, Nico had never really seen the point to Halloween. **Many people had tried explaining the historical significance but most of them didn't quite know what they were talking about. To them, Halloween was just a fun night every year where everyone was allowed to be a freak and beg for candy.

"Come on, Nico," Will Solace pleaded. "It'll be fun."

"It'll be degrading, is what it'll be," Nico responded, huffing and folding his arms across his chest. "Ever seen a son of Hades dress up like a freaking zombie? No. Because we have real ones. We don't need to go around pretending to be something we see every day."

"Please?"

"No."

"For me?"

"Gods no."

"Please, Nico?"

"No."

Will rolled his eyes and shifted his stance. He gave Nico the look. The look was something that Will had perfected over the last few months at camp. It clearly communicated his feeling of "If you don't do this you're a boring Dead Boy and you know you'll just be grumpy you missed out". When Will shot Nico the look, there wasn't much Nico could do to argue.

Nico's eye twitched. "No."

Will kept staring.

"No."

His eyebrow lifted a third of a degree more.

"Not. Happening."

The Look persisted, boring into Nico, wearing him down.

Nico's confidence wavered. "No?"

Will flexed his eyebrow a final time.

"Ugh, fine."

Will's grin spread across his face and made him light up wickedly like a Jack-O-lantern. "Yes!" He cheered and turned to his friend Lou Ellen, a small girl from the Hecate cabin. "Told you I could do it."

Lou Ellen shrugged and handed over a few shiny golden drachma, smiling at Nico the whole time.

Nico slouched and gave his best grumpy face. "You had a bet going?"

Will turned around, surprise on his face. "Of course we did. You sound surprised." He winked and started to walk to the Camp store where the Stoll brothers were selling realistic looking Halloween costumes. Without turning around, he called out, "I'll pick you up at seven, Zombie Boy!"


	5. Halloween - Part Two

**Nico glared into the mirror. A cranky teenage zombie glared back**. Will had told Nico to dress as a zombie for the night.

"I have a genius plan," he'd said that afternoon.

Nico had rolled his eyes. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah. You're gonna love it."

"Am I now?"

"Totally."

Nico didn't believe a word of it.

It was Lou Ellen who had actually convinced him to go. After Will had wandered off to the Camp Store to look at costumes, Lou Ellen had approached him with a tiny smile on her face.

"Hi."

Nico stared. "Hi?" There was an awkward pause. "Can I help you?"

She blinked a few times, the smile disappearing, and seemed to realise she should say something. "Oh. Right. Yes. Um… I need a favour."

"A favour?" Nico wasn't sure she was asking the right person. "From me?"

"Yes."

Nico waited.

Another jump start from Lou Ellen. "Um… tonight… Will's plan… he's really counting on you to be there."

"Be where?" Nico asked, hoping to gain a hint as to Will's oh-so-secret plan for that evening.

Lou Ellen bit her lip and tried not to smile. "I can't say. It's a surprise." Damn. "But he's really hoping you'll be there. And… I kind of am too…"

Nico looked up at the girl. She was looking at her feet and drawing patterns in the dirt with her bare toes. She seemed… bashful. Was she… flirting?

Nico took half a step back and raised his palms. "Uh, I don't think I'm really your type…"

Lou Ellen looked up, confused. She suddenly realised what it sounded like. "Oh, gods, no! I'm not… into you. I just… I do like this other guy. And I want someone to help me out with him tonight. I was hoping you'd be my wingman for the night."

Wingman? Nico had never been anyone's wingman. Truthfully, he'd never so much as been asked. He'd never had any friends who felt they could ask something like that of him. And here was Lou Ellen, little Lou Ellen, asking for his help.

"Well I wasn't actually planning on going. I was just going to hide until he left." Nico explained. But Lou Ellen wouldn't have it.

"No! You have to go. You told Will you would."

She reminded him of Hazel sometimes. The way she would stay quiet in counsellor meetings and only speak up when she had something important to say. How she was happy to observe from the shadows and learn all she could. Even her stature was similar; petite and dark haired. When someone reminds you of someone you love, how can you not help them?

"Well?" Lou Ellen asked, her eyes shining with tears. Of embarrassment maybe?

Nico exhaled. "Um… sure. Okay. Why not?"

Lou Ellen practically squealed and leaped up to hug him. Nico recoiled at her touch but it was gone as suddenly as it had appeared. All of a sudden, Lou Ellen was babbling away about her plans for the evening and how they would stay together all night and they would all be best friends.

"Thanks so much Nico! I'll see you tonight, at seven, like Will said! See you soon!"

Nico finally breathed as she strolled away towards the training ring. Girls were tiring. No wonder Lou Ellen wasn't his type.

Now he watched himself in the mirror and made some scary zombie faces as a test run. It just made him cringe and feel even more stupid.

There was a knock on the cabin door. About half a second later, Will Solace burst inside, dressed as… Actually Nico had no idea what Will was dressed as.

"What in Hades is that?" Will asked, giving Nico a weird face.

"Could say the same to you," Nico nodded at Will's costume - if you could call it a costume.

"This?" Will asked, gesturing to the outfit. He grinned. "I'm my dad, Apollo. Like it?"

Will was wearing a Grecian toga that fell loosely around his chest, exposing most of it in a lazy-yet-cool fashion. Sandals covered his feet and he held a lyre in his hand. His hair was tousled and styled exactly like the sun god's usual do and his skin seemed to glow slightly. The whole thing was extremely Apollo-esque and Nico had to resist the urge to say just how much he did like it.

Instead, he said, "You'd better not try to play that lyre."

"Whatever, Zombie Boy." Will grinned and threw his arm around Nico, leading him outside to a waiting cat and a burglar - Lou Ellen and Cecil. "Time for the surprise."

"Where are we going?" Nico asked, giving a friendly nod to Lou Ellen and Cecil. "Into town?"

"Better," Will said, a wild grin on his face. "We're going to a party."


End file.
